P.A. Parenteau Proving to Be A Great Addition For Colorado Avalanche

By Jonathan Katje

Ron Chenoy – USA TODAY Sports

When the Colorado Avalanchesigned free-agent winger P.A. Parenteau to a deal over the summer, there were two schools of thought in analyzing the deal. Some thought it was a great add to a talented, young Avalanche team, while others speculated that Parenteau’s production with the New York Islanders was solely a result of playing alongside John Tavares and Matt Moulson.

Just eight games into the season, he is showing that it is the former rather than the latter that holds true, as he leads the team with six goals and has stepped up in the wake of injuries to Gabriel Landeskog and Steve Downie.

Parenteau, now in his third season of full-time NHLduty, scored 18 goals and added 49 assists for the Islanders last season, a career-high and good enough for third on the team. He signed with the Avalanche for four years, and along with Landeskog and Matt Duchene will be an important building block for a team that should at least be on the verge of making the playoffs in the next few seasons.

After back-to-back season of minus-8 ratings in New York, Parenteau has a plus-8 rating through eight games in Colorado. The only thing he has yet to showcase with his new team is his ability to produce on the power play, and it should only be a matter of time before that happens in Colorado. At $4 million per season, he is making as much as David Jones, who has just one goal on the season and may be one of the team’s most disappointing performers so far.

Jonathan Katje is an NHL blogger for Rant Sports. Follow him on Twitter @JKatje or add him to you network on Google.